Escape From The Past, Directed by Joe Begos (Formerly Paradox)

Liked the lighting flashing light effect and souns. I would have liked to understand how serious the stall was. Not exactly, but if we knew he might die, it would have elevated the tension. Good job! I liked it! The ending was gross but cool.
 
great short! Caught me from the beginning. really good! Pacing was nice. good sound!

The talking in the car was a bit slow. And their sunglasses looked cheesy. And well, the head explosion looked cheesy too.

Overall a really good entry though! Thumbs up!
 
This was a very solid entry. I really enjoyed it. I liked the style and look of the film. I really liked the editing.

I think the "time cop" thing caught me by surprise, in a way that it seemed funny. I think what would help would be to really set up that the two guys are living in a future world. As it was, I thought that maybe they were just living in the present and happened to have a time machine.

Because the time cop had a shotgun, I thought perhaps the exploding head was from a shotgun blast. If he imploded, completely blew up, or something else, that might make that moment clearer.

Anyways, nice work, I can't wait to see what you guys make next.
 
jasonthewho said:
This was a very solid entry. I really enjoyed it. I liked the style and look of the film. I really liked the editing.

I think the "time cop" thing caught me by surprise, in a way that it seemed funny. I think what would help would be to really set up that the two guys are living in a future world. As it was, I thought that maybe they were just living in the present and happened to have a time machine.

Because the time cop had a shotgun, I thought perhaps the exploding head was from a shotgun blast. If he imploded, completely blew up, or something else, that might make that moment clearer.

Anyways, nice work, I can't wait to see what you guys make next.
Click to expand...


Originally in he final seconds leading up to the head explosion the timer was counting down to 0:00. It didn't meld well with the scene so we took it out.
 
I enjoyed this film and thought the editing was well done. The car scene was a little fake sounding for some reason but it still held together. I did wish I knew a little more of what would happen if he didn't get back in time. I didn't like that they would go to rob a store though. After all, if they have a time machine, shouldn't they be thinking about getting diamonds and gold and not $400 from a store? They seemed much more intelligent for that.
I thought at first the cop shot him in the head because of the boom sound when his head exploded also.
 
Beat Takeshi said:
I didn't like that they would go to rob a store though. After all, if they have a time machine, shouldn't they be thinking about getting diamonds and gold and not $400 from a store?
Click to expand...

The short is a test for a feature where just that happens, larger bank heists, and other important such crimes. That's why he said it's a test run. A larger scale robbery would've been more fun, but unfortunately we didn't have the money for a better location. Thanks for the editing comment too! That's my department.
 
Excellent opening, a strong hook. Once the actors start talking I lose it a bit. The premise is, interesting. The time cop outfit is unconvincing, the final run up and surprise ending were fun. Keep going!
 
I like the concept, and I like how the piece was edited together, showing the two storylines simultaneously. As others said, the shaky-camera during the car talking scene was way too much and unmotivated, so it stood out. The audio sounded distorted at parts. I think the head-exploding bit was way overdramatic, so much so that it actually got a laugh out of me (but I don't think that's what was intended). Maybe it was because I thought he had made it back to the stall in time, so it was completely unexpected. I think the shot of the timer hitting zero is necessary, after all.

Your story-telling ability is strong. I love the line he delivers to the cashier -- good stuff. Cinematography was good, except for the one aforementioned scene in the car which calls attention to itself. All in all, nice work.
 
I really liked this story. I can definitely see this as part of a larger project, but it was a good concise story in and of itself. I would say that the sound mix was WAY too loud. Film shouldn't be mixed to "0" like music (of course music shouldn't be mixed so loud either but that's another topic).
 
Brad S. said:
I really liked this story. I can definitely see this as part of a larger project, but it was a good concise story in and of itself. I would say that the sound mix was WAY too loud. Film shouldn't be mixed to "0" like music (of course music shouldn't be mixed so loud either but that's another topic).
Click to expand...

I did do a re mix on the sound, but unfortunately the version we had re mixed wasn't in the final render, which was our fault for having too many render files laying around. This will be kept in mind though, thanks for commenting.
 
I liked the concept and the overall execution. The sound design worked well for me as did the time travel effect. Probably one of few films that went in the direction of time travel being equated with pain, from my memory -- which I found really, really effective. The editing was spot on for those sequences and the last shot... whew. Good times.

Nice work!!
 
I actually enjoyed this piece. The story was good, I loved the thing about "Time Cops" that totally changed everything. You had one hell of a hook! I was adjusting the volume and I realized a lot was already happening in the first seconds. The sound was great, as was the acting and I enjoyed the little techniques with the flashing lights and shaking camera. Here were my only critiques:

1) The shakey camera works for some scenes but not all, in the car scenes it got to be a little too much for me and took me out of the story because I had to put out such an effot to stay focused.

2) The head exploding. Obviously not the most realistic. I think I would have maybe shown blood splattering on the walls with the sound of the explosion and then cut to the headless body (which looked great).

Other than those minor things, great job! Good luck!
 
Your story is clever and the time police is an intelligent detail. The acting was pretty good. I am not really sure how much I like the "splatter end" - it seemed to me from a comic and this hard brake confused me. Above all - good work. Compliments.

Susanne
 
I liked the opening scene. Decent job of making it frenetic and confusing.

Your dialog scene: I like the choice to go handheld, good instincts. The execution leaves something to be desired. Your cam op was zoomed in so it exagerrated the movements which became distracting. very distracting. I know part of it was done to try to achieve a rack focus but overall the effect was... distracting.

What you can do to correct this is to move the camera physically closer so you can zoom out on the shots that dont require the focus pull. Planning helps for this.

On the ones you can't move closer for you can use a mono pod. Basically collapse your tripod so it's all 1 leg, and then operate so you can control the 'handheld' look but still stay stable enough to not distract from the scene. Also get someone else to pull focus other than the operator so he can focus on holding the camera.

When you guys get to the store, I love your choices there. I think the clock is cheesy and you dont need it. It doesnt go with the grittiness of the what you looked like you were going for. But I didn't hate it.

I'd rather see blood splash on the wall than bad after effects personally but thats my taste.

Very awesome first effort. Fire your cam operator, or make him practice holding the camera (even in the liquor store) if you cant. ;)
 
Chuklz said:
I liked the opening scene. Decent job of making it frenetic and confusing.

Your dialog scene: I like the choice to go handheld, good instincts. The execution leaves something to be desired. Your cam op was zoomed in so it exagerrated the movements which became distracting. very distracting. I know part of it was done to try to achieve a rack focus but overall the effect was... distracting.

What you can do to correct this is to move the camera physically closer so you can zoom out on the shots that dont require the focus pull. Planning helps for this.

On the ones you can't move closer for you can use a mono pod. Basically collapse your tripod so it's all 1 leg, and then operate so you can control the 'handheld' look but still stay stable enough to not distract from the scene. Also get someone else to pull focus other than the operator so he can focus on holding the camera.

When you guys get to the store, I love your choices there. I think the clock is cheesy and you dont need it. It doesnt go with the grittiness of the what you looked like you were going for. But I didn't hate it.

I'd rather see blood splash on the wall than bad after effects personally but thats my taste.

Very awesome first effort. Fire your cam operator, or make him practice holding the camera (even in the liquor store) if you cant. ;)
Click to expand...


That head explosion was 100 percent practical my friend.
 
Awesome! A timemachine in the bathroom that blows your head off.
I have to say I really enjoyed the flick despite the incredibly annoying jerky camera movements. There’s a time and place for the freneticness, and a time to calm it down. Not to deliberately shake the camera all around to give a feeling of chaos and disarray.
I think the music worked for your film although there were times where I think it was poorly sliced together. Was this a custom score or found source music? (suppose I’ll have to go back and re-read the credits and explore your thread)
I enjoyed your cinematography. I think it looked wonderful. (of course minus the jerkiness) I also dug the premise of “What If”. The timecop thing was cool, but I wish he was a little more futuristic. A few high tech beeps and blips could help create the illusion of a future cop such as this. Would have love to know more about that character. Perhaps a few close ups or another line of dialog?
Regardless, congrats on finishing your film and looking forward to your next entry.
 
I first watched this on my Timefest marathon at like 3 am and I thought my speakers were going to blow up as I leaped for the volume. It was awesome!

Seriously, though- I see that you may have had some audio issues, but you have to be really careful about levels when your mix contains so much distortion. It can do damage when played too loud. I loved the sound design though. It really launched your movie like a rocket.

Overall I liked it, and you kept me wanting more, except when you opened that can-o-worms called "... they have time-cops for that..." If there are time-cops then I guess time-travel is known to exist, and if so, wouldn't everyone be doing it? Or, wouldn't the guy know that after five minutes, your head explodes? I don't know, but that part of the story was a little thin for me.

It sounded like you adr'd his voice when he has the mask on, robbing the cashier, except you recorded it without a mask on. It didn't sound like his voice was coming through a mask.

The dialog and acting in the car was good. I liked the choppy shutter effect, but it was distracting. It did highten the tension somewhat though.

I think you could've done something better than the time-cop in the liquor store. For one thing, his costume didn't look real. Wouldn't they send in an army of those guys anyway? If I were a Time-Cop, and I detected someone that has traveled through time illegally, I think I would be a little sneakier about it. Maybe pose as another customer, then try and pounce on the guy or something. Just throwing out ideas.

I liked the ending. In with a blast, out with a bang. If you shaved 15 frames off the front of the head exploding clip I think it would work better. It's sitting there for too long before it explodes.

The whole movie LOOKED great. Whatever you did with the lighting, and CC was spot-on. Keep doing it. I liked the music too. It fit perfectly.

Good work! It's a unique style that stands out in the fest.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top